A closer look at Resident Evil

David Konow, 17th September 2012

Yet another installment of Resident Evil hit theaters, and it was #1 at the box office, making over $70 million world-wide - doing even better than Finding Nemo in 3D.

Resident Evil of course helped launch the whole zombie game trend, and even though the movies are not well reviewed, they still keep rolling them out and generating tons of cash.

There’s also another installment of the game ready to hit shelves, Resident Evil 6 on October 2, so this franchise clearly isn’t slowing down any time soon. The movies keep coming because they keep making money (duh), and as much as Resident Evil has its share of haters, Movieline did bring up some good points about the series.

As writer Luke McKinney points out, "Some game are so impossible to convert that the process drives screenwriters completely insane... Resident Evil is not one of those games. The plot is good guys versus evil zombie corporation, and the movies aced it."

Yes, the movies didn’t follow the game plots exactly, "but all the producers did was cut the repetitive rubbish which stretched what amounts to a 90-minute story into more than 12 hours of game play."

Other key things that Movieline likes, is the movies "jettison irrelevant sub-plots," like characters going after their brothers, the search for rogue mercenaries, looking for members of the President’s family, and more. The flicks get rid of all that crap, and has "sexy badass Milla Jovovich" blasting away.

Movieline also feels that by not sticking with the game plots, the movies could escalate with each subsequent film. First the virus infects the lab, then the city, then the world.

"The ante was upped in each case, which was far better than the game’s plot of, ‘Where’s Wally’s next secret viral base which will blow up at the end of the game?’"